Marco Longhi | |
---|---|
![]() Official portrait, 2020 | |
Member of Parliament for Dudley North | |
In office 12 December 2019 –30 May 2024 | |
Preceded by | Ian Austin |
Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | Walsall,Staffordshire,England | 22 April 1967
Political party | Reform UK (from 2025) |
Other political affiliations | Conservative (until 2025) |
Website | marcolonghi |
Marco Andrea Longhi [1] (born 22 April 1967) [2] is a British former Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dudley North from 2019 to 2024. In January 2025,he defected to Reform UK. [3]
Marco Longhi was born on 22 April 1967 in Walsall and grew up in Rome,the son of an Italian airline worker,Antonio Longhi,and a British mother,Josephine Clarke. He trained as a pilot and later studied at Manchester University,following this by working for a time in civil engineering. [4] He then worked in the oil and gas industry,which included five years in South America. [5]
In 1999,Longhi was elected as a Conservative councillor in Walsall (where his grandfather Wilfred Clarke had been Mayor in 1978),and became Mayor in 2017 and again in 2018. [4]
At the 2005 general election Longhi unsuccessfully ran for election in Dudley South,finishing second with 34.5% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour Party MP Ian Pearson. [6]
Longhi was elected as MP for Dudley North at the 2019 general election,winning with 63.1% of the vote and a majority of 11,533 votes. [7] [8]
Following an interim report on the connections between colonialism and properties in the care of the National Trust,including links with historic slavery,Longhi was among the signatories of a letter to The Daily Telegraph in November 2020 from the "Common Sense Group" of Conservative parliamentarians. The letter accused the National Trust of being "coloured by cultural Marxist dogma,colloquially known as the 'woke agenda'". [9]
On 23 August 2021,Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed Longhi as the UK's trade envoy to Brazil. [10]
In May 2022,Longhi called for the "Stop Brexit Man" Steve Bray to be "locked up in the Tower with a loudspeaker playing 'Land of Hope and Glory' on repeat at maximum volume" because of the disruption he causes. He added that Bray was "griping for any little bit of press coverage" and claimed that staff in his Westminster office could not hear "distressed constituents on the phone" because of the loud music that Bray played. [11]
In June 2022,Longhi,in a private message directed to the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby,about the government's Rwanda asylum plan,said,"Archbishop,as you appear to feel so strongly about this,will you give up two of your palaces for illegal migrants and pay for their accommodation?" [12]
Longhi endorsed Kemi Badenoch during the July 2022 Conservative Party leadership election. [13] After Badenoch was eliminated,he backed Liz Truss. [14]
In October 2022,following the resignation of Liz Truss as Prime Minister,Longhi announced that he would be supporting previous Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the subsequent leadership election. [15]
Longhi was made honorary president of right-wing pressure group Turning Point UK in November 2022. [16] The group reportedly has links to the far-right,including conspiracy theorists such as InfoWars . [17]
In February 2024,Longhi,who is a landlord owning ten properties,opposed the government's Renter's Reform bill,which would increase the rights of tenants in rental properties and included a manifesto pledge to ban no-fault evictions. [18]
At the 2024 United Kingdom general election,Longhi was accused of "dog-whistle" tactics against his Labour opponent Sonia Kumar. His campaign sent leaflets to British Pakistani and Kashmiri Muslims drawing attention to Kumar's Hindu surname (writing it in capital letters and underlined),arguing that she would not support Kashmir while in Parliament. [19] Longhi lost his seat to Kumar at the general election. [20]
Longhi was the director of property management company Justmove (Lettings) Limited,and owns ten houses in Walsall. [1] [21]
Dudley North was a United Kingdom House of Commons constituency from 1997 until 2024.
Christopher Ian Brian Mynott Philp is a British politician who has served as Shadow Home Secretary since November 2024. He held the post of Minister of State for Crime,Policing and Fire from October 2022 to July 2024. He was previously appointed to Liz Truss's cabinet from September to October 2022 as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and then as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General. A member of the Conservative Party,he is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Croydon South following his election in 2015.
Christopher James Skidmore is a British former Conservative Party politician and author of popular history who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingswood in South Gloucestershire from 2010 to 2024.
Simon Anthony Hart is a British Conservative politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire from 2010 to 2024. He served as the Chief Whip of the House of Commons and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury from October 2022 to July 2024. He previously served as Secretary of State for Wales in the Johnson government from 2019 to 2022.
Melvyn John Stride is a British politician who has served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in Kemi Badenoch’s Shadow Cabinet since November 2024. A member of the Conservative Party,he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Devon since 2010.
Gareth Alan Johnson is a British politician and former lawyer who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dartford from 2010 to 2024. A member of the Conservative party,he served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Courts from September to October 2022 in the Truss ministry. Johnson previously served as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from February to September 2022 and Assistant Government Whip from 2018 to 2019 and 2021 to 2022.
Wendy Morton is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Aldridge-Brownhills since 2015 and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs since November 2024. A member of the Conservative Party,she previously served as Chief Whip of the House of Commons and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury from September to October 2022.
Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke Badenoch is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party since November 2024. The first Black person to hold those offices,Badenoch previously served in the Cabinet under Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak from 2022 to 2024. She has been Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Essex,previously Saffron Walden,since 2017.
Rachel Helen Maclean is a British politician who was the Member of Parliament for Redditch in Worcestershire from 2017 to 2024,and currently serves as Director of Strategy to the Leader of the Opposition,Kemi Badenoch. A member of the Conservative Party,she previously served as Minister in the Department for Communities and Local Government,Department for Transport and Home Office.
Edmund Francis Hughes is a British Conservative Party politician who served in the Second Johnson ministry as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Rough Sleeping and Housing from 2021 to 2022. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Walsall North from 2017 to 2024.
Joyce Rebekah "Joy" Morrissey is an American-born British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Beaconsfield since 2019. She was a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from November 2023 until July 2024. She has been Opposition Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Commons since November 2024,serving alongside Gagan Mohindra.
Mohammad Saqib Bhatti is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Meriden and Solihull East,formerly Meriden,since the 2019 general election. He previously served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Tech and the Digital Economy from 2023 to 2024 and as the Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party for Business from 2022 to 2023.
Nicola Faye Richards is a British politician. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich East from 2019 to 2024. She is a member of the Conservative Party. Prior to her parliamentary career,Richards was a councillor. Her constituency was abolished at the 2024 general election.
Nicholas Anthony Fletcher is a British Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Don Valley from the 2019 general election until 2024. He was the only Conservative to ever be elected for the seat.
Stuart Paul Anderson is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the member of parliament (MP) for South Shropshire since 2024. He was previously the MP for Wolverhampton South West from 2019 until 2024. He was Vice-Chamberlain of the Household from November 2023 until July 2024,as well as shadow minister of state for defence from July to November 2024.
Shaun Stephen Bailey is a British Conservative Party politician who served as the member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich West from 2019 until 2024.
The July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered by Boris Johnson's announcement on 7 July 2022 that he would resign as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,following a series of political controversies.
The October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered by Liz Truss's announcement that she would resign as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,amid an economic and political crisis.
The 2024 Conservative Party leadership election was announced on 5 July 2024 when then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared his intention to resign as Conservative Party leader following the party's defeat at the 2024 general election. The leadership race commenced on 24 July and concluded on 31 October. On 2 November,Kemi Badenoch was announced as the winner of the members' ballot,becoming the first Black leader of any major UK political party,the fourth female Conservative leader and the second consecutive Conservative leader to be non-White.
Sonia Kumar is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dudley since 2024.
{{cite press release}}
: CS1 maint: others (link)